Book Club Forum

 

 

The 2009 Book Club

 

Welcome to the Wimbledon BookFest 2009 Guide for Book Clubs.
Over the next few months we'll be providing tips for reading and suggestions for discussing books and authors who will be featured at this year's BookFest.  If you'd like to receive an email alert when this page gets updated please contact Jane Freimiller.

 
 
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Ruth Padel is coming to the BookFest on 6 October to talk about Darwin: A Life in Poems—her biography in verse of her great-great grandfather, Charles Darwin.  You can read reviews of the book in The Independent and The New York Times.  Find out more about Ruth Padel at her website or at Contemporary Writers.  Listen to the poet read her own work at the Poetry Archive.

 

 

Emma Darwin is a contemporary novelist who, like her cousin, the poet, Ruth Padel, is a great-great granddaughter of the naturalist Charles Darwin.  Emma Darwin has written two well-received novels:  The Mathematics of Love and A Secret Alchemy.  Emma Darwin is coming to the Wimbledon BookFest on 8 October.  You can find reviews of her books here and here.  Be sure to consult the author’s own website.  You can also follow her blog This Itch of Writing where she discusses the craft and discipline of writing.  An interview with Emma Darwin is available at Vulpes Libris.

 

 

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1999, the Map of Love is a beautiful tale of love and mystery.  Ahdaf Soueif will be appearing at Wimbledon BookFest 2009 on 6 October.  If you want to find out more about the author you can: visit her website for lots of information including audio and video interviews and reviews of her work.  Information is also available at Contemporary Writers.  A complete list of articles Soueif has written for the Guardian can be found here.

 

 

William Boyd will be at BookFest on October 9th to discuss his new novel, Ordinary Thunderstorms. Find out more about William Boyd at his own website www.williamboyd.co.uk   and at Contemporary Writers.  which includes a fascinating essay on his work as a whole.  Reviews of his novels are accessible through Encompass Culture.   Several of Boyd’s novels have been made into film including Stars and Bars, Armadillo, and A Good Man in Africa.  He’s also written screenplays for several other films.  See a comprehensive list here.

 

 

 

Kamila Shamsie will be discussing Burnt Shadows on October 9th at Wimbledon Library.  The novel, shortlisted, for the 2009 Orange Prize, is reviewed in The Guardian .  See the author discuss the novel on YouTube.  Find out more about Kamila Shamsie at Contemporary Writers .  More information and a reading by the author is available from the Orange Prize. 


  

On Wednesday 7 October Sadie Jones talks about The Outcast at the Wimbledon Bookfest. The novel was shortlisted for the 2008 Orange Prize.   You can see her on YouTube, read a review of the novel in The Independent, and peruse an interview in The Telegraph
 
 
 
On Monday October 5 Deborah Moggach will be discussing her latest novel, In The Dark. The author’s website is a good source of information, interviews, and photos. You can also find out more about her in the Daily Mail, Wikipedia, and Contemporary Writers.
 
 
Chris Cleave writes a regular column in The Guardian on the trials and tribulations of parenting. He will be visiting Bookfest on 6 October to discuss The Other Hand. Read a review of the novel here.
 
 
Author and actor Julian Fellowes will be at Southside House on 7 October. Find out more about him on Wikipedia. See his acting and screenwriting credits at here and read an interview in the Telegraph
 
 
Penny Vincenzi hosts a ‘Girls Night Out’ on 5 October along with JoJo Moyes and Jessica Ruston. Catch up with Penny on her new blog. Read a recent article by Penny here.
 
 

 

 

 

Calling all Book Clubs

The Wimbledon Bookfest needs you.

 

Please register your club at info@wimbledonbookfest.org to make sure you are aware of all the events in our forthcoming Festival  3 – 11 October and to encourage you to pass on the message. 

 

The Festival is still in its infancy (3rd year) so we rely on friends and volunteers to a large extent.

 

 

Wimbledon Bookfest